In this patient cohort, the Internet was the main source of information for those undergoing refractive surgery. Although the flipped classroom model provides an effective way to teach ophthalmology to medical students, there are concerns that it overburdens the learner. The purpose of this study was to assess medical students' perceptions of a case-based flipped classroom style compared with a traditional didactic lecture series and to evaluate the effects of case-based learning on students' confidence in managing common ophthalmic complaints. We created an interactive, case-based flipped classroom ophthalmology curriculum. Paired pre- and post-clerkship surveys were distributed to students on the first and last day of the 2-week clerkship. Questions were formatted as statements using a 6-point Likert scale to assess students' prior exposure to a flipped classroom, perceptions of the flipped classroom curriculum, and confidence in evaluating ophthalmic complaints. A total of 75 students were included during the period July 2019 to March 2020. Pre-clerkship questionnaires revealed no preference for either teaching modality. Wilcoxon signed-rank testing comparing pre- and post-clerkship data revealed a significant increase in students' favoring the case-based flipped-classroom model. Participants reported significant reductions in pressure to perform, course burden, and overall anxiety as well as increased confidence in triaging common eye complaints. The case-based flipped classroom modality prioritizes key learning objectives while increasing student participation and confidence. The reproducibility and accessibility of standardized prepared video lectures and cases may help institutions to better incorporate ophthalmology into preexisting rotations.The case-based flipped classroom modality prioritizes key learning objectives while increasing student participation and confidence. The reproducibility and accessibility of standardized prepared video lectures and cases may help institutions to better incorporate ophthalmology into preexisting rotations.The efficiency of a thermoelectric generator and the coefficient of performance (COP) of a thermoelectric heat pump are related to the hot and cold junction temperatures and a quantity known as the figure of merit, zT. During the second half of the twentieth century the figure of merit has gradually improved. This has come about through the selection of semiconducting materials with improved electronic properties and a small lattice thermal conductivity. Further advancements have been achieved by enhancing the scattering of phonons. There is also the possibility of improving the so-called power factor, that is the part of the figure of merit that contains the Seebeck coefficient and the electrical conductivity. However, it appears that it will be increasingly difficult to make further advances because of the manner in which these quantities vary with the Fermi energy. It is shown that this may set a practical limit on zT. Nevertheless, it may be possible to reach an efficiency or COP of about 40% of that of an ideal thermodynamic machine.The large anisotropic thermal conduction of a carbon nanotube (CNT) sheet that originates from the in-plane orientation of one-dimensional CNTs is disadvantageous for thermoelectric conversion using the Seebeck effect since the temperature gradient is difficult to maintain in the current flow direction. To control the orientation of the CNTs, polymer particles are introduced as orientation aligners upon sheet formation by vacuum filtration. The thermal conductivities in the in-plane direction decrease as the number of polymer particles in the sheet increases, while that in the through-plane direction increases. Consequently, a greater temperature gradient is observed for the anisotropy-controlled CNT sheet as compared to that detected for the CNT sheet without anisotropy control when a part of the sheet is heated, which results in a higher power density for the planar-type thermoelectric device. These findings are quite useful for the development of flexible and wearable thermoelectric batteries using CNT sheets.Shortwave infrared (SWIR) optical sensing and imaging are essential to an increasing number of next-generation applications in communications, process control or medical imaging. An all-organic SWIR upconversion device (OUC) consists of an organic SWIR sensitive photodetector (PD) and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), connected in series. OUCs directly convert SWIR to visible photons, which potentially provides a low-cost alternative to the current inorganic compound-based SWIR imaging technology. For OUC applications, only few organic materials have been reported with peak absorption past 1000 nm and simultaneous small absorption in the visible. Here, we synthesized a series of thermally stable high-extinction coefficient donor-substituted benz[cd]indole-capped SWIR squaraine dyes. GC7 First, we coupled the phenyl-, carbazole-, and thienyl-substituted benz[cd]indoles with squaric acid (to obtain the SQ dye family). We then combined these donors with the dicyanomethylene-substituted squaraine acceptor unit, to obtain the dicyanomethylene-functionalized squaraine DCSQ family. In the solid state, the absorbance of all dyes extended considerably beyond 1100 nm. For the carbazole- and thienyl-substituted DCSQ dyes, even the peak absorptions in solution were in the SWIR, at 1008 nm and 1014 nm. We fabricated DCSQ PDs with an external photon-to-current efficiency over 30%. We then combined the PD with a fluorescent OLED and fabricated long-term stable OUCs with peak sensitivity at 1020 nm, extending to beyond 1200 nm. Our OUCs are characterized by a very low dark luminance ( less then 10-2 cd m-2 at below 6 V) in the absence of SWIR light, and a low turn-on voltage of 2 V when SWIR light is present.The COVID-19 pandemic has catastrophically impacted the world. Before the success in vaccination, this virus shows no sign of stop spreading. Nearly all the countries have implemented stringent approaches to slow down the transmission of the virus, but the virus still caused over 2 million deaths and the number is increasing. Therefore, preventing the virus spreading is still necessary to protect most people, especially the ones with pre-conditions. Mainland China has successfully eradicated the COVID-19 virus infection in Wuhan in 2020. After that, several small-scale outbreaks occurred in many cities in China, but none of these COVID-19 virus infections caused the widespread. In this review, we would like to give a detailed presentation of the approaches that were implemented by the China government to suppress the virus spreading by considering the unique characteristics of this virus and the paths of the virus transmission. Both the pros and cons of these strategies will also be analyzed. The experiences and lessons learned during the virus-fighting in China, expectedly, will be a useful source of reference for other regions in overcoming the threat caused by the COVID-19 virus.